Articles in "Features"

The University of Southern Mississippi Honors College has three of a kind among its freshman class of 2013.

Triplets Olivia, Ross and Rachel Paris-Harbison are Southern Miss Presidential Scholars from Mobile, Ala. where they graduated from McGill-Toolin High School. When the three tried to establish a hierarchy of choices as they looked for a college to attend, one held on to first place following their visit to the Hattiesburg campus.

One recent graduate and another current student at The University of Southern Mississippi helped organize an important one-day gathering of 13 federal, state and local agencies to discuss the criteria necessary for the Port of Gulfport to become designated a “strategic port” by the Defense Department.

In the corner of an Alaskan high school classroom hangs a bulletin board adorned with enough University of Southern Mississippi references to make any alumnus black and gold with envy.

The school is North Pole High -- and the teacher is Sherri Young, a 1984 Southern Miss graduate and mother of three students currently enrolled at the university. Katie Young, 22, is a senior English licensure major; Emma, 20, is a junior advertising major and Matthew, 19, is an incoming freshman who plans to major in history.

Never one to shy away from the Southern Miss spotlight, Dr. Dave Davies, dean of the Honors College, performed his rendition of the “Gangnam Style” dance on Friday, June 21 in support of the University’s annual faculty/staff giving campaign.

Beth Biagini always imagined that she would watch her youngest daughter graduate from college. But the mother of four never dreamed that she would be wearing a cap and gown on the same day herself.

On Friday, May 10 Beth Biagini and her daughter, Cally Biagini, strolled across the stage at The University of Southern Mississippi’s Reed Green Coliseum to receive their diplomas during the Spring 2013 Commencement ceremony.

A University of Southern Mississippi Honors College student is the recipient of a prestigious National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship.

Kendall Moore, Jr., a sophomore computer science major from Madison, Miss. and a Presidential Scholar at Southern Miss, earned the award that includes funding for two academic years of full-time study and a 10-week, full-time summer internship at a NOAA facility. It is named for retired U.S. Sen. Ernest F. Hollings of South Carolina.

The Provost’s Office is asking Southern Miss students and faculty to assist in the Fall 2012 Textbook Survey that is now available on SOAR. Faculty and students will find separate surveys, which must be completed before midnight on Friday, April 19 to be included in the final results.

Members of the faculty are asked to make their students aware of the survey. As an incentive to students, a $100 VISA gift card will be presented to two randomly selected students from those who complete the textbook survey.

Dr. Scott Piland, associate professor in the School of Human Performance and Recreation at The University of Southern Mississippi, recently visited Camp Shelby to speak at an event held in conjunction with Traumatic Brain Injury Awareness month.

Sometimes, the winds of fate will put a person in the most unusual, uncomfortable, unforgettable circumstances.

That is precisely where University of Alabama sophomore Annelise Moreau found herself as she came face-to-face with a monstrous tornado that raked the Hattiesburg area, including The University of Southern Mississippi campus, on Feb. 10.

“I was horrified because I had a front row seat into the center of a tornado. I was sure I was going to die,” said Moreau, 20, who was driving through Hattiesburg as the weather worsened that Sunday evening.

The Student Dietetic Association within the Department of Nutrition and Food Systems at The University of Southern Mississippi sponsored an “Eat Well Hattiesburg” Nutrition and Fitness Fair on Feb. 23 at Pride Field on the Hattiesburg campus.

The event was designed to introduce the Hattiesburg community to vendors that provide healthy nutrition and food options in the Pine Belt. The student group also sought to supply a venue for all ages to come enjoy themselves and learn about nutrition and fitness.

The Golden Eagles Intertribal Society (GEIS) has joined forces with other groups at The University of Southern Mississippi for a series of events to celebrate Human Rights Week -- Nov. 12-16 -- at the Hattiesburg campus.

Hannah Roberts, a sophomore from Mount Olive, Miss., bested a field of 14 contestants to win the Miss University of Southern Mississippi Scholarship Pageant Saturday, Oct. 27 at Hattiesburg’s Lake Terrace Convention Center. The event is a preliminary for the Miss Mississippi Pageant next summer in Vicksburg.

Roberts is a biochemistry major and student in the university’s prestigious Honors College. She is a member of Kappa Delta Sorority, the American Chemist Society, Eagle Connections and has served as a volunteer with the Golden Eagle Welcome Weekend (GEWW) Crew. She is the daughter of James and Danna Roberts.

The University of Southern Mississippi chapter of Alpha Lambda Delta (ALD) received the Gold Delta Award for heightened membership during a National Workshop held earlier this month in San Antonio, Texas.

The award is presented to chapters that have experienced a minimum 35 percent increase in membership from year to year. The Southern Miss chapter of ALD produced a 69 percent increase as membership grew from 71 members in 2011 to 120 this year.

Amy Radican-Wald, a 2002 graduate of The University of Southern Mississippi Master of Public Health program in the Department of Community Health Sciences, was elected as the Mississippi delegate to the American Public Health Association's (APHA) Governing Council by the Mississippi Public Health Association (MPHA) during the association's annual conference in Philadelphia, Miss., last month.

For Cleother Clayborne and Zack Pittman, two student-veterans on The University of Southern Mississippi’s Hattiesburg campus, helping other soldiers navigate college —and, specifically, college writing — is a given. When an opportunity arose to work with soldiers in an English 101 class offered by the University at Camp Shelby, they were ready to serve.

Members of Student Government Association (SGA) at The University of Southern Mississippi recently adopted a new initiative designed to create greater awareness among students about the SGA’s role on campus.

Greek Life students at The University of Southern Mississippi can still find plenty of reasons to LOL, but the GPA is taking maximum precedence these days.

Joshua Schutts, assistant dean of students at Southern Miss, notes that the average grade point average for all Greek students currently sits at 3.07 – the highest number school officials can recall since at least the 1990s.

Dr. Martha Saunders returned to The University of Southern Mississippi in 2007 pledging to “build trust, build a team and build a campus.” After five years of leading her alma mater as its ninth president, she returns to its faculty having done that and much more.

Saunders announced her resignation from the presidency in April and will leave her post on Friday, at which time she will join the faculty at Southern Miss Gulf Coast.

Students throughout the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Health are constantly seeking internship and training opportunities in their field of choice. For students in the School of Human Performance and Recreation, these opportunities often materialize close-to-home.

Zack Gatwood stepped across the stage at Spring Commencement last month having made a major impact on Southern Miss athletics, and did so while preparing for a career in sport management.

University of Southern Mississippi graduate Justin Clark sees problems as nothing more than challenges that arouse his analytical, entrepreneurial mind.

For as long as he can remember, the Hattiesburg, Miss., native has tinkered with ideas that would make the world around him a better place. Armed with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, Clark has wasted no time in developing and implementing a strategy for success.